Clash Prevail in Shootout To End an Eventful Evening

Dan Giesin, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, May 1, 1999

More than 10,000 people showed up for last night's soccer game at Spartan Stadium. What they got was something else.

In a match that featured two red- card ejections, four yellow-card cautions, some questionable refereeing and a halftime streaker, the Clash got their fifth victory, a 2-1 decision over the Dallas Burn by means of what is quickly becoming the hallmark of their season -- the shootout.

And even the shootout wasn't your garden variety Major League Soccer tiebreaker: Dallas goalie Matt Jordan was tossed out of the proceedings after handling Dario Brose's shootout attempt outside the penalty area.

Not since Eric Wynalda suffered a leg injury against -- who else? -- the Burn in a shootout last season has anyone seen such a bizarre ending to a local MLS game.

"I was pleased with the way we played tonight," he said. "I enjoyed our performance. We played with energy and we played smart, particularly in the second half when we didn't let them have a lot of scoring chances."

The Clash also played nearly the entire game a man down after defender and team captain John Doyle was sent off in the seventh minute for a hard -- and a bit too high -- tackle on the Burn's Ted Eck.

"I was a little bit too enthusiastic and had too much energy, and I went into him as hard as I could . . ." Doyle said. "It was a hard tackle; I'm not making any excuses. But in the past you used to do that all day long and nothing happened. Now the rules have changed."

It was the third time in seven games this season that a San Jose player has been sent off, and Quinn could only sigh about losing players to red cards.

"We've talked about that area of the game," he said. "We'll only hurt ourselves if we continue to make those kinds of errors. We need to take responsibility."

The Clash also have to take stock in what's happening to the team; although they have a 5-2 record, all the wins have come via the shootout, and San Jose isn't climbing the MLS Western Conference ladder very rapidly with a point per win.

That they even got as far as the shootout was a testament to their tenacity.

Not a minute after Doyle was sent off, Dallas midfielder Temoc Suarez picked up an indifferent clearing pass by Clash defender Jamie Clark near the top of the penalty area and slammed the shot past goalie Joe Cannon and into the left corner of the net.

That 1-0 lead against a team down a man and struggling on offense -- the Clash had scored just six goals in their previous six matches -- seemed to assure the Burn would notch their fifth win of the season.

But the Clash battled back, and seven minutes later, midfielder Jeff Baicher swiped the ball in the Dallas end and dribbled into the far corner of the penalty area before dropping the ball off to Ronald Cerritos, who was trailing Baicher on the play. Cerritos picked up the ball along the box's left chalk mark and slammed it by Jordan for his third goal of the season.